


Lost Shadows Left Behind

by parjil



Series: Bury the Light Anthology [1]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Dante is trying his best to be a good brother and a good uncle, F/M, Gen, He's just got... issues, POV Dante (Devil May Cry), Post-Canon, Post-DMC 5, Post-Devil May Cry 5, Uncle Dante (Devil May Cry), Vergil has PTSD guys, Vergil is trying okay?, but if anyone is going to slam doors in his shop it's gonna be him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26662711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parjil/pseuds/parjil
Summary: Nero had been pushing Vergil for information. Information that Dante’s dumbass of a brother flat out refused to or just wouldn’t give. And honestly? Dante was getting tired of it.
Relationships: Dante & Vergil (Devil May Cry), Nero's Mother/Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Series: Bury the Light Anthology [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939987
Comments: 40
Kudos: 138





	1. i

**Author's Note:**

> Over a year ago, I made a post on tumblr about Post-5, where Nero started searching for answers about his mother. Roughly a quarter of this I had started writing back then, and I abandoned it due to my workload at the time.
> 
> Since the song’s release, I’ve interrupted the line “lost shadows left behind” to be referring to Nero’s mother, and in a small portion, Nero himself. 
> 
> Without further adieu, welcome to the first part of the Anthology.

**_16th of March, 3:32pm_ **

_One year, eight months and a day after the events of Redgrave City._

* * *

Dante couldn’t help but to cringe when the door slammed shut with the rattling of glass and wood, muffling Nero’s furious cursing as he stormed off. He sighed, pulling the magazine off to scrub a hand over his face. 

Nero had started looking for information on his mother while Vergil and Dante had been in Hell. From what Dante understood, there were dozens of women who had been pregnant in 1992 on Fortuna. As was the case for most of Nero’s life, no one knew for sure who the kid’s mother was. The result was that the kid’s search had stalled about a month before Dante and Vergil had returned. Since then, Nero had been pushing Vergil for information. Information that Dante’s dumbass of a brother flat out refused to or just wouldn’t give. And honestly? Dante was getting tired of it. If anyone was going to make his windows rattle from slamming the door closed or open, it was going to be him damn it. 

Dante rolled his head over to look at his twin, sitting behind his own desk with the accounting file in front of him that were abandoned as the elder looked out the window, no doubt watching as Nero disappeared onto the main street outside. His facial expression far away, and posture stiff. 

"Are you ever going to cut the kid some slack, Vergil?"

"Cut him slack on what exactly, Dante?"

Dante stared up at the ceiling and groaned, "C'mon! We’re not playing the ‘I’ll Answer Your Question with a Question’ game again. You know damn well what I’m talking about."

Vergil only made a noncommittal noise, still staring out the window. Dante knew that Nero was long out of sight; kid moved fast when he was angry and Nero had left the edge of Dante’s range of sense minutes ago. They sat with no noise but the din of the old jukebox and the rickety spin of ceiling fans for many long moments. Dante broke it by dropping his feet from his desk and slamming his boots on the ground, getting Vergil to snap his head over. 

"You love hypothetical situations and critical thinking big brother." Dante leaned forward. "So, imagine yourself in Nero’s shoes. You want to know who your mother is. You’ve hit a dead end after months of searching and your asshole of a father is the only one who knows who she was. That same asshole father is refusing to say a word about her. Zip, zilch, nada. But you still keep coming back, because that asshole is the only lead that you’ve got."

Dante stopped to let his brother think. And then he said, "And your dashing hunk of an uncle is getting pretty tired of his door getting slammed by someone that isn’t him, so your amazing uncle is getting ready to spill the beans that your asshole father won’t. Ya pickin’ up what I am putting down?"

Vergil looked at him, still thinking it over. Dante blew a raspberry as he leaned back in his chair, putting his feet up again. His magazine went back over his face. The silence was back, and Dante was content to let Vergil mull it over for a while. They both knew that he wouldn’t say anything without Vergil’s go ahead.

"He smells like her." Vergil was looking back at the window, but he also wasn’t. Dante knew what Vergil was talking about. 

"Just like when we catch a whiff of Pops and Mama off of each other, huh?" Every now and then, Dante would catch wind of his mother's scent on Vergil and another that must have been their father underneath the scent that was just decidedly _Vergil_. The same hints that Vergil would get off of him.

Vergil nodded vaguely, still looking but not. "He looks like her, from what I am able to recall of her face."

"It’s the nose isn't it?" The kid's nostrils were like Dante's and Vergil's, the rest of Nero's nose wasn't. "That schnoz didn’t come from our side of the family." It got a chuckle from his brother. It was enough that Dante heard him resume his work over the books, the faint of scritch scratch of a pencil lulling. 

Dante spoke again as he settled into a more comfortable position, "He’d be happy with just her name, y’know?"

They sat in silence once more for Dante didn’t know how long. Eventually, Dante nudged the phone on his desk with his foot to get Vergil’s attention. He didn’t need sight, when he felt Vergil leave his desk and then heard the dial tone. 

"Nero."

Dante was smiling as he heard Nero on the other line faintly, still very angry.

"Lucrecia."

_What?_

"Your mother's name. It was Lucrecia."

 _Thanks_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In an interview, Dan Southworth said that Nero’s mother (or a woman that Vergil would end up with) would be of some great significance to Vergil. The original line, when Dante told Vergil that Nero was his (Vergil’s) son, was something along the lines of “I once had fun too.” Dan felt that that would have been out-of-character for Vergil, so it was changed to what is in the game; which is “Well, well. That was a long time ago.”
> 
> What is portrayed here is an attempt to stay within the characterization that Dan has put down for Vergil. That he is a very secretive person, and that he wouldn’t offer up any information on his past without the person knowing him very, very well. 
> 
> Which is why I chose to go with Dante being the one to know about Nero’s mother first, instead of Nero himself. Dante and Vergil were in Hell for a year and half in the timeline that I'm setting up, and so they got to know each other again. By comparison, Nero and Vergil have had roughly three months of interaction, not including the whole “ripping my son’s arm off” and the Qliphoth incident. 
> 
> Regarding what Vergil said here about Nero smelling like his mother; here’s the deal. 
> 
> When we’re born, we get half of our parents’ DNA. Theoretically since we’re dealing with demons and stuff in DMC and they’ve got those weird senses, a child especially a baby, would smell like a mixture of their parents as well as that New Baby Smell (ya'll know what I'm talking about). That smell would gradually fade as the child matured until any trace of the parents’ scent has almost completely disappeared. Like a perfume or a cologne that has worn off, but you still catch a whiff of it every now and again.
> 
> With the name that I've chosen for Nero's mother, I had a hard time deciding on one. I first chose Agrippina, as a reference to the Roman Emperor's mother, however that just didn't... fit. Then came Laetitia, Rebecca, Rachel, Sarah, etc. None of them fit, you know?
> 
> And then, while I was going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole (as one does), I came across this interesting legend about Virgil (yes that Virgil, author Aeneid Virgil) where he become enamored with either the daughter or the mistress (it flip flops) of the Emperor, and this woman was called Lucrecia.


	2. ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dante meddles, once again. Hopefully, the results are what Nero is after.

**3rd of May, 1:43pm**

_ One year, ten months and eighteen days after the events of Redgrave City _

* * *

It had been some months since Vergil had divulged the name of the woman who had clearly ensnared his heart. Things had improved between Nero and Vergil; they were actually starting to bond, sometimes at Dante’s expense, but hey, Dante was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Dante’s brother had gone off on his own for a hunt, heading over to Siberia after they'd gotten word that locals were claiming vampires were running around several villages. Vergil went because Dante didn't speak Russian; he only knew Spanish, Latin, and Italian with a smattering of German; mostly because Dante had liked how foul language sounded in German. Vergil, on the other hand, was a damn polyglot. 

Nero had called off and on, busy with the mobile branch and the kids he and Kyrie were raising. Last time Dante had talked to Vergil, the elder twin had actually gotten a letter from Nero with a post script calling him an asshole for forcing Nero to write an actual letter like it was the 19th century because Vergil didn’t have a cellphone.

Vergil, of course, went out and bought the cheapest cell phone he could find after receiving it. Dante had been wheezing for air over Vergil’s grumbling over technology and uncooperative locals. The phone number scribbled on a piece that Dante handed to Nero was met with a nose wrinkled with disgust after the kid had racked the balls for a game of pool. Nothing like a game of pool after pizza, in Dante's opinion.

"Dante, a three year old can write better than this." 

"Hey! That's not anyway to thank your amazing uncle for writing down your old man's new phone number. Especially when said uncle is letting you drink his beer." Dante was grinning despite the reprimand. Nero took a drink from one of said beers, raising an eyebrow. "Don't text him by the way. Stick with phone calls; he's still figuring out how to play Tetris on the piece of crap he got. Wait until he gets a smart phone for texting." He broke the rack. A stripe went in. "Solids are yours."

"You mean like the one you broke by falling into a river?" The kid was leaning on his cue, watching as Dante lined up another shot. 

"I was thrown into that river, you little punk. I didn't go out that day looking for a swim. If I wanted to go swimming, I would have packed my broad shorts." Dante could have cleared the table if he had wanted to; but this was bonding time with his nephew, so he intentionally messed up his shot.

Nero gave him a look that conveyed that he knew what Dante was doing as the kid set down his beer next to Dante's own to circle the table for a good shot. After pocketing one, Nero did the same thing Dante had and missed on purpose. They fell into a good silence; the crack of the cues hitting the balls as they took turns making their shoots.

“How’s the search for momma doin’?” 

Nero grunted, clearing not happy. Oh, he knew that look. It struck Dante for not the first time that this was Vergil’s son and they made similar facial expressions. Dante sighed. “Alright kid, spill it. Tell Uncle Dante what’s buggin’ ya.”

Nero snorted, as he always did when Dante called himself ‘Uncle Dante’ in a conversation. Dante waited, taking his time with his next shot to give the kid some time to get his thoughts into order. 

“There’s only two women that it could be. One died in ‘94 and the other disappeared a month or so after I was born. The problem is that the woman who died was a nun; the Spardan nuns took their vows of chastity seriously and very rarely left the convent’s tower. When they did, it was documented for what reason and when, right down to the time. None of the nuns left the tower around the time Vergil would have been in Fortuna.”

Dante leaned against the table, twirling the cue stick in his hand. The kid was pacing, not even paying attention that it was his turn now. “So that leaves the one who disappeared, right? Where’s the problem there?” 

“The problem is that she didn’t disappear in Fortuna. There was a group that helped those who became disillusioned with Sanctus get to the mainland; to start over. The majority of that group was... eliminated. A surviving member recalls taking a woman to the mainland shortly after I was born.” Nero trailed off, scowling as his grip tightened around the cue. Dante could hear the wood beginning to creak. 

“Nero.”

“What?” 

“Wanna put the stick down before ya break it?” Nero looked at the stick and set it down on the table after a moment. When his nephew remained silent, Dante sighed. This kid was too much like his old man sometimes. “I take it the trail went cold after she hit the mainland?”

Nero sighed, moving to sit down heavily on the new couch Vergil had gotten for the office. The old one had kicked the bucket finally while Dante was taking a nap, making Vergil actually laugh. Nero eventually nodded, head in his hands. “The trail went cold when she arrived in Genoa. There’s literally nothing left to go on.”

The earlier anger that the kid had was gone and now he was just deflated. Dante really didn't know what to do or say; so he did what he did best. He created a distraction by knocking the beers from their perch on the table. Nero snorted despite himself; kid probably knew what Dante was trying to do but if the kid was laughing, Dante'd take it. Dante looked at the mess on the floor, sighing. He shrugged, “Wanna get us some new ones while I clean this up?”

“Actually wipe it up, Dante. Putting the rug over it doesn't count.”

“What if I roll Vergil's chair through it? The wheels getting gummed up will annoy him.”

“Dante!”

* * *

**3rd of May, 3:32pm**

* * *

Dante stared up at the ceiling above his desk, processing everything from the past few hours. Nero had volunteered to go pick up pizza, and Dante was sure that it was both for the kid to clear his head and to talk to Kyrie without Dante teasing him too much for it. Dante really didn’t want to make a habit of meddling in affairs that weren’t his (First giving Vergil a kick in the ass about Nero's mom and now this?), but this was for family right? Family helped family when said family needed help. Dante picked up the phone and dialed one of the numbers that he pretty much knew by heart now. 

“Hey Morrison! I want to know if you can dig up some information on somebody for me. You can have whatever you want.”

_ Got a name? _

“Yeah, Lucrecia.”

_ Lucrecia? _ Dante heard the information broker repeat it several times under his breath and then heard a rustle of paper.

“From what I understand, she arrived on the mainland sometime in the nineties from Fortuna, ended up in Genoa. Trail went cold on our end of things there.”

_ Lucrecia Capello?  _

“Dunno. Never got her last name, if she had one. Why?”

_ I’m thinking that the Lucrecia you’re looking for is the same one I’ve got in mind. Remember that coalition that formed about ten years ago? _

“Yeah? What about it?” Dante remembered it; some hunters pulled together to train up new hunters in a manner that meant less of them dying on their first couple of hunts as greenhorns and a more accessible list of jobs. Readily available backup and access to an arsenal of weapons were big enough bonuses that had a lot of human hunters signing up.

They had extended an offer for him to join when the coalition had first formed, one that still stood because he never responded one way or the other. Lady had actually considered joining up, but Dante couldn’t remember if anything came of that or not. 

_ She’s part of it. One of their top ranged hunters, as it turns out.  _

“Ranged as in what? Bazooka?” Explosives were a popular choice amongst human hunters.

_ No, son. Sniper on the rooftops. She can shoot  _ **_doublets_ ** _. _

Dante let out a low whistle. Doublets, as it was called amongst sharpshooters, was two shots hitting two targets in quick succession. Very impressive. “Where is she right now?”

_ Got that right here, son. ‘Bout a hundred miles up north of you last I heard; been there for a while actually. I believe she’s training a new hunter; took on a couple C rank jobs off my hands. Want her number? _

“You mind?”

_ Nah. It’s for your nephew ain’t it? _

“There’s nothing that gets past you is there Morrison?”

_ Afraid not. _

* * *

**4th of May, 7:38am**

_ One year, ten months and nineteen days after the events of Redgrave City _

* * *

For the second time in just as many days, Dante had given him a phone number. His uncle had handed him a piece of paper with a grin after Nero had come back with the pizza, stole a couple slices and went off on a hunt. All the hunter had said was, “Think this might be the woman you’re looking for, champ.” and out the door he went for a job. Nero looked at the number again, scrawled in Dante’s horrendous handwriting. It had taken Nero hitting a  _ This number has been disconnected _ message twice before he realized that Dante’s nines were written like fours. Seriously, the five year old Nero and Kyrie were raising could write better than this. Nero grumbled, leg twitching as he listened to the phone finally dial. 

_ Password?  _

“Are you Lucrecia Capello?” Jeez, it was hard to talk. It felt like he was swallowing his tongue. 

_ Depends on who’s asking. Do you have the password? _ The voice was melodic, with a dry wit. 

“No. Listen, this isn’t about a hunt.” There was a snort on the other line. “Don’t hang up! My name is Nero. I-” He cleared his throat, “There’s no easy way to say this. I think I’m your son.”

_...When were you born? _

“September 19th, 1992.” The sound of a sharp inhale.

_ And where were you born? _

“I’m sorry?” 

_ Where were you born?  _

“Fortuna.”

The other line was silent for several long moments, and Nero would’ve thought the call had been disconnected if he wasn’t able to pick up the sound of choppy breathing and someone in the background asking if something was wrong. Nero jumped when he heard a door slam shut. He thought he could hear a racing heartbeat; he didn’t know if it was from the other line or his own. It was just now hitting him that he was more than likely speaking to his mother.

“Hello?”

_ What would be a good time and place to meet, Nero? _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nero meets his mommy next chapter~ (Maybe after an interlude from Vergil)
> 
> Now. Onto the end of chapter notes. 
> 
> Due to architecture of Fortuna that was shown in DMC4, I've placed Fortuna as an island off the coast of Italy, in between Genoa and Leghorn. Fortuna is officially listed as it's own entity separate from Italy. It doesn't really have any resources of it's own, it doesn't anything of value military wise, so nations have just left Fortuna be for a long time. 
> 
> Regarding the coalition mentioned; it makes sense to me for human hunters (aka Squishies) to sort of band together into some sort of organization, just to pool resources, information, etc. Not all of the hunters do; some, like as inferred with Lady, like their independence. Being a demon hunter in the Devil May Cry universe specifically a human one, one would practically have one foot in the grave choosing that as their profession if they didn't have demonic heritage. (Lady is except, because she's a Certified Badass. I don't make the rules)
> 
> To blend the ranking system from a combat mechanic into a canon thing, the jobs that a hunter takes are ranked from C to SSS. C being the lowest, run of the hill and SSS being for elite hunters or a large group (a platoon or troop in military terms). 
> 
> Vergil is a polygot; he can speak Russian, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese. Vergil also does feel like someone who would enjoy the shit out of Tetris, and actually be good at it, like high score on the leaderboard good. 
> 
> Keep an eye out on my tumblr for meta about the Capellos on Fortuna. 
> 
> Ciao loves~


	3. interlude vergilius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A memory crept up upon him; of her sitting before a vanity. The ghost of a touch.

_8th of May, 1:30pm_

_One year, ten months and twenty three days after the events of Redgrave City_

**Somewhere in Siberia, Russia**

* * *

He had started remembering; bits and pieces here and there. Phantoms of sounds, scents, people curling out from the recesses of his mind and curling around him. Many of his family; Dante, mother, father. Some of his experiences after that day, when life had sent him overboard and left him out in the ocean drifting. Many of _her_. Hints of her started to come back to him at first, after he learned that he had had a son. That she had birthed his son. It made sense, to him then, why Nero had smelled so familiar for the scant moments he was around him and why some of the young hunter’s features were so familiar.

How she preferred her tea, was the most ironic of what he remembered. Brewed strong, one sugar, honeyed, with a pinch of cinnamon. He remembered how her eyes would light up with each new challenge for knowledge, how she’d absorb any information like a sponge. 

A memory crept up upon him; of her sitting before a vanity, hair the color of a chestnut’s shell loose from confinement as she brushed it carefully. The tawny color of her kirtle made her hair appear darker than it actually was. She turned, in this memory, a smile of affection gracing her face and love soft in her eyes. The ghost of a touch. And then the need clawing at him to have her intimately again.

He hadn’t understood it, then, so young and inexperienced as he was as why he wanted to be near her as often as possible and be intimate nearly every time the thought struck him or she invited him to her. He hadn’t known what he had done when he had gone to her bed in the middle of his Season, spending a few days consuming what she offered to him freely. Hadn’t understood the consequences of mingling his blood to hers. He hadn’t understood how leaving her had started an ache inside of him as soon as he left the estate; one that pulled and twisted for him to return to what was **his**. 

He had dismissed what he had felt as something he wouldn’t need at the time; a spell cast locking the memories and feelings away with traces and clues left behind so he could reclaim them and return to her when he finally had his father’s power. To protect. 

The spell hadn’t been enough to hide it; what he had cast was nothing compared to what Mundus was capable of doing. He remembered the taunts, after he had been… when it was discovered that _she_ existed. And what he had inadvertently done. The revelation that she had been killed; he heard that voice twisting like a snake and oozing like oil, _the Dark Slayer’s mate doomed to the same fate that befell your sire’s_ . He remembered raging; trying again and again to break free, something in his nature screaming _kill to avenge._

He had made himself forget her, after that, consumed by guilt and grief and eventually what he had turned into.

And now. 

_I found her._

And now.

_We’re meeting for lunch today._

She- she was alive. She lived; Mundus had lied. She survived.

**_Lucrecia._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Vergil, you dumbass. 
> 
> What Vergil unknowingly did, when he and Lucrecia got it on, was lay claim to her as... what is essentially his bride. I have no other way of putting it than that. Vergil claimed her after biting her in the *ahem* **heat** of the moment and bit his lip on accident. That little slip up led to... well. 
> 
> The full story of Vergil and Lucrecia's relationship will be revealed in the next part of the Anthology, Disappear Into the Night. That is in the first drafting/planning stages. I plan for it to not be a chaptered piece, like this, but for it to be instead a single long work. Bring water and snacks when it's released ya'll.
> 
> Vergil made himself forget about Lucrecia through the use of a spell; when he cast the spell he had every intention of recovering his memory and returning to Fortuna. Oh, what could have been. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. 
> 
> Vergil does suffer from PTSD as a result of McFuckFace Mundus. Part of PTSD, is a certain memory or certain memories become repressed due to a traumatic event/events. When Vergil separated himself and become Urizen/V, his form as V, the manifestation of Vergil's human side, didn't quite remember Lucrecia; he just felt a sense of de ja vu when looking at Nero, getting the sense of "Hey, I recognize that feature from somewhere."
> 
> When Vergil became whole again, memories that he had previously repressed (or locked away with a spell, this utter donkey) started coming back. The first were, as he was in proximity to Dante, of his family. Eva, Sparda, Dante. And then, hints of Lucrecia came back. In the first chapter, Vergil mentions that he has trouble remembering Lucrecia's face. He could only recall that Nero and her have a similar nose, along with the scent thing I mentioned in the end notes of the first chapter. 
> 
> TLDR; Vergil's A Mess. 
> 
> We'll see Momma next time ;D


	4. iii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If he hadn’t already guessed she was a hunter by how she had answered the phone when he first talked to her over the phone, Nero would have guessed it now just by the outline of what was most certainly a gun at her hip from the inside of her jacket. 

**_8th of May, 11:40am_ **

_One year, ten months, and twenty three days after the events of Redgrave City_

* * *

When he was a kid, at the orphanage before Kyrie and Credo’s parents took him in, he had always wondered what his real parents were like. He would make up stories and features in his mind, to help him escape from the bullying he faced and the borderline neglect of the matrons. He daydreamed of his parents showing up one day and taking him home. That he’d have a doting father who’d put him up on his shoulders and a loving mother who would hug and kiss him. The phantoms that Nero created in his mind as a child were often his companions. 

After Kyrie and Credo’s parents took him in, Nero often followed Credo around with Kyrie following after Nero. Credo was the whole reason why Nero had joined the Order of the Sword in the first place.

After he met Dante, Nero had noticed the resemblance. How many people had white hair who weren’t elderly? None, as far as he’d known. Nero had assumed at first, that Dante might have been his father. But something never felt… right about that thought. He knew in his bones that he and Dante were related in some manner, but Dante being his father? That never sat right; it screamed out as _not right_. 

The revelation that Vergil was Nero’s father? That his own father had torn off his arm? It.. hurt. It hurt and it made Nero angry; almost as angry as the thought of the two idiots that were his father and uncle killing each other. But he also felt… lost. Talking to Kyrie had helped him recenter himself. It always did. 

Kyrie was excited when he told her that morning that he’d be meeting his mother. She’d told him, after he explained the call to her, that the woman’s reaction said everything he needed to know. That this was his mother. Nero had to laugh then, because Kyrie knew him so well that she knew there was a small part of him that was expecting the worst; that this woman wasn’t his mother and he had missed something.

Nero’s next phone call that morning had been to Vergil. It was awkward making small talk. They mostly stuck to the details of the job Vergil was currently on in Russia. The locals weren’t giving Vergil straight answers as to where the rest of the vampires were currently. Vergil was on his tenth day of the hunt and had eliminated only half during that time. Towards the end of the call, Nero divulged who he was meeting for lunch. 

As he walked towards the diner that Dante had given him directions to, Nero felt his palms sweat. Parked on the curb near the diner was a land rover. That must be the land rover she mentioned. 

_Look for the land rover. You’ll know it when you see it._

It was an older five door model and beat to shit. Dents and gouges littered the vehicle. Almost all of the windows from what he could see had cracks running across in some manner or another. One of the windows near the back was gone judging to the presence of a plastic sheet held on by duct tape. Crates and boxes of assorted sizes were secured to the cargo rack on the land rover’s roof. There was a woman leaning against the front passenger door next to the curb, fiddling with her phone. Nero stopped for a moment, just looking at her. without even talking to her in person yet, it hit him that that woman leaning back against the door of the beat-up land rover was his mother. Heart pounding as he got closer he took in her appearance. 

The first thing that Nero noticed was the scars; seven lines that cut across the right side of her face. The longest ended just short of her chin. Her hair was pulled tight into a braided bun at the base of her skull; the chestnut hair was littered with gray, a streak of it started at her temple. She was probably someone who started to go grey early. She wore grey-green military style jacket, dark jeans, and boots. If he hadn’t already guessed she was a hunter by how she had answered the phone when he first talked to her over the phone, Nero would have guessed it now just by the outline of what was most certainly a gun at her hip from the inside of her jacket. 

She looked up, spotted him and held up a hand in greeting as she tucked her phone away. Nero responded and jogged up the rest the distance. Now that he was closer, he saw that the scars were just on the one side of her face. He spotted a few familiar facial features on her angular face, because they were his own. Her nose, the strong and sharp cut of her jaw. 

“It’s the scars, isn’t it?” She had an eyebrow raised, a quirk upwards to the corner of her mouth. Nero realized he was staring.

“Sorry, I-” 

She smiled, revealing a dimple. “I’ve had them for twenty years now, I’m used to it.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not rude to stare.”

She chuckled, and extended her hand. “Lucrecia Capello.”

“Nero.” Her grip was firm. He could feel calluses on her hand. They stood there for a moment. Nero cleared his throat, scratching at the back of his head. Why was he so nervous? “I don’t… really know what to do from here.”

“Well, let’s start by ordering some food. We’ll go from there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Momma's here! 
> 
> God, this thing fought me once I got halfway done. It just didn't want to become longer, so it's a short piece this time. 
> 
> It was briefly touched on in Interlude Vergilius, Mundus McFuckFace did send demons to attack Lucrecia. She survived the attack but was scarred. The scars mentioned on her face are the most visible ones. 
> 
> Updates are going to be a little slower; I've been playing through the Resident Evil series again and am being my typical completionist self. I've also got Grandpa Vergil drabbles that are coming up to help get the Brain Juices™ flowing again.


	5. iv

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He breathed in deeply, eyes closed. _Vanilla and jasmine. Old books and incense._ It took him back to a time where all he knew the warm sunshine of the island and the reverence of her touch.

**_25th of August, 2:23am_ **

_Two years, two months and ten days after the events of Redgrave City_

Nero had been... happy, Vergil noticed, when he finally returned from Russia. Vergil didn't ask how meeting her had gone. He only knew that they met for lunch on a regular basis, now. Nero came and went as he usually did in the following months. Vergil notices the past two times Nero had had a lunch meeting, that he'd be dropped off by a frankly awful appearing land rover. Instead of the occasional whiff he used to pick up off of Nero, the scent of… her was strong and clung to his son. Vergil had, much to his embarrassment and Dante’s amusement, caught himself scenting the air, tongue almost flicking out past his lips. He wasn’t proud of it, but he started holding his breath whenever Nero was near. 

As a half-devil, Vergil didn’t need to breathe as often as a human did, much like he didn’t need much sleep or food, and his lung capacity was greater than a human’s could ever be. Father hadn’t needed to mimic the action of the lungs movement, but did for simplicity’s sake. 

Dante, of course, had caught on to what Vergil was doing. 

“Ya know, sooner or later the kid’s gonna figure out that you’re holding your breath around him. Might hurt his feelings.”

Vergil had glared at Dante, who was reclining with a magazine on his face and his dirty boots up on his desk, a pose he seemed to live in during idle moments. “I fail to see how that is any of your business.”

“My family, my business.” Vergil had grunted, returning to his own perusing of a tome they had pilfered on their previous joint excursion a week ago. 

“It’s that new smell on him, ain’t it? It’s her’s?”

Vergil had deigned to not answer. 

Nero was currently out on a hunt in the surrounding countryside. "Mother-Son Bonding Time" Dante had called it, when Nero had told them. Vergil had remained silent as Nero made a rather rude hand gesture at Dante and gone running out the door when they heard honking outside. Vergil had thought for a moment that it was Nicoletta, but looking out the window he saw that same land rover idling as Nero hopped into the passenger seat. 

He could make out the silhouette of the driver, clearly female that reached over to hug Nero before the land rover drove off. Vergil understood the pang in his heart; so close but so far. 

It ended up being a busy night. Several employment opportunities had appeared all over the city and Dante had elected to take them all, proposing a competition. Vergil had accepted the wager, as he wouldn’t have to handle laundry when he won. 

They had gone their separate ways, Dante going taking the western part of the city while Vergil took the eastern side. Empusas were… simple minded creatures at the end of the day and the fight was over quickly once he had them all clustered into one group. The sun had risen and lit the city in an array of orange and yellow. Vergil noticed that that land rover was sitting outside of the shop. Deep gouges penetrated the vehicle, rending metal. Plastic sheeting covered a window. He placed a hand on the hood and noted that it was cold. It had been there for a long time. The driver side window was rolled down and Vergil could nearly taste the scent. Nero’s mingled with two others. One he was intimately familiar with and the other he didn’t know. 

Vergil frowned, looking at the shop. The light downstairs was on. Vergil had turned it off himself when he and Dante had left. Coming up the steps, Vergil opened the door and stepped inside. The jukebox was on, crooning out Bob Sager as the fans whirled overhead. He noted Dante had yet to return. The first aid kit that his brother kept for his human compatriot was out on the kitchenette’s counter. He could hear the shower running upstairs. Vergil closed the door behind him as he stepped further inside. He turned towards the lounge area and...

“Good morning Vergil.”

He stood still, silent. Just staring at her, a shadow of the past who was sitting on the end of the couch leaning over the coffee table to write in a black book; two similar books were stacked next to her. Pale scars cut across the skin of her face; a bandage was secured to her shoulder that was beginning to prick red against sterile white. 

Her chestnut hair now had silver threads with a streak of it by her temple, but it shone in the light just like he remembered as it hung past her shoulders like a curtain over him a lifetime ago. Her eyes were still bright. She almost looked just like she had all those years ago. 

He breathed in deeply, eyes closed. _Vanilla and jasmine. Old books and incense._ It took him back to a time where all he knew the warm sunshine of the island, the chirping of birds and insects, the sound of her laughter and the reverence of her touch. 

“Good morning. Lucrecia.”

He stared at her, she stared at him. 

She smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, this was a pain in the ass to write. It was originally much longer, but dialogue fought me every step of the way. Nero and Vergil were meant to have an argument, in the original draft, but that got scrapped. 
> 
> Instead, here's Vergil pining like the emotionally constipated idiot he is. 
> 
> What was everyone's favorite part of the Vergil Campaign? Mine was the banter about Little Vergil and Little Dante. 
> 
> We've got one more chapter after this, and then... we've got a potential sequel. 
> 
> Come chat with me over on Tumblr!  
> [Parjil on Tumblr](https://parjiljehavey.tumblr.com/ask)


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